Card feeder



p 4, 1965 R. E. KITTREDGE 3,206,192

CARD FEEDER Filed Jan. 4, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 !NVENTOR ATTORNEY P 1965 v R. E. KITTREDGE 3,206,192

INVENTO BY MWXKM ATTORNEY 1 P 14, 1965 R. E. KITTREDGE 3,206,192

CARD FEEDER Filed Jan; 4, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 @l/iaw 6%766066 INVENTOR ATTORNEY p 14, 1965 I V R. E. KlTTRED GE 3,206,192

v CARD FEEDER Filed Jan. 4, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fry/(lava i frrifwf INVENTOR BY XMMWW ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,206,192 CARD FEEDER Raymond E. Kittredge, Binghamton, N.Y., assignor to General Precision, Inc., Binghamton, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 4, 1963, Ser. No. 249,407 Claims. (Cl. 271-19) This invention relates to the method and apparatus for processing a punched card containing information to be transferred to a computer, and more particularly, to a device that will reliably process slightly multilated cards.

At present, most card feeders utilize what is known in the industry as a throat system. The bottom card in a stack of cards is engaged by picking knives which feed it through a throat which is adjusted to feed only one card at a time. As the throat opening is only slightly more than one card thickness, mutilated or bent cards will not pass, causing an interruption in the operation of the feedor and further damaging the cards.

A need exists in industry for a reliable method of processing slightly crumpled and damaged cards to maintain uninterrupted use of the card reader and to insure that the damaged card is not further damaged. At present, to avoid the breakdown time and the destruction of the cards, a prior inspection for mutilated cards and the fabrication of a substitution card is required This invention eliminates this intermediate step between the user of the card and the card reader.

It is the object of this invention to provide a machine which processes slightly mutilated or bent punched cards in a manner similar to undamaged cards.

A further object of this invention is to provide, in conjunction Witll the card feeding device, sensing means for detecting defective cards which will not feed, to prevent further damage to the card or immediately adjacent cards.

The card feeder of the present invention generally consists of a feed-hopper, a buckling knife, a vacuum ramp, a transport initiator, a misfeed switch, transport rollers, a processing unit characterized in the instant application as a readout system, discharge rollers and a discharge stack. In operation, the bottom card in the feed-hopper is engaged by the buckling knife along a first lateral edge of the card. The card, being immovable along its longitudinal axis, since it is the bottom card of the deck, will be bent in a downward direction. The vacuum ramp is so designed that the card is buckled to a desired degree and a pressure differential is created, drawing the first lateral edge portion of a card onto the vacuum ramp. Subsequently, the transport initiator mechanism engages a second lateral edge and projects the card forwardly into the transport rollers. The vacuum ramp is provided with a misfeed switch which controls the action of the transport initiator. If a card is not drawn completely onto the vacuum ramp the process is terminated, as the transport initiator will not function at this time as a drive means for the card. A complete description of this action is explained in the detailed description which follows.

The card is next projected from the transport rollers to the read head rollers of the read out system. The card, after being processed through the read out system, is forwarded through the discharge rollers into the discharge stack. The read out system does not comprise the contemplated subject matter of the inventive aspect of the instant application, inasmuch as the card feed apparatus is capable of use with other processing means, and will be described herein only in such detail as is necessary to define a unitary and functional device.

A further safety feature is provided to detect a second type of malfunction which tends to disrupt the continuing operation of the card reader. Occasionally two cards will 3,206,192 Patented Sept. 14, 1965 "ice be separated from the bottom of the stack, this is due to an adhesive force, such as a static charge being set up between the two cards. The vacuum will draw the bottommost card down and it will be processed through the reader. The second card, known as a floating card, will still be present above the vacuum ramp. To be assured that only one card is present at this stage of the operation the action of the buckling knife must be suspended for one complete cycle. To accomplish this a photodetector system is provided to detect the presence of the floating card during a predetermined time interval of the cycle and to initiate a mechanism which will eliminate the buckling action during the next cycle.

These and further objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following descriptions and the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic view of the card reader and feeder system comprising a preferred embodiment of the instant invention.

FIGURE 1B is an enlarged view of a portion of the buckling knife mechanism shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary isometric view of the card feeder section of the preferred embodiment illustrated in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a schematic illustration depicting the electrical network of the safety mechanisms incorporated in the card feeder.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged view of the buckling mechanism and vacuum system shown in FIG. 1.

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged view of the transport initiator mechanism illustrated in FIG. 1.

Referring now to the drawings, and specifically FIG- URES 1 and 2, a number cards 3 to be read are placed in a feed-hopper container 4 comprised of two lateral walls 6 and S, and a longitudinal wall 7, wherein the upper portion and a second longitudinal portion are open, and the lower portion being divided into three sections 10, 12 and 14. The bed iii of hopper 4 is a grooved fiat plate that extends approximately two-thirds of the length of the hopper from the wall 6. A vacuum ramp 12, adjoining bed 10, is inclined downwardly at an angle of about twenty-two degrees, by way of example, and is provided with apertures or ports 16. A shelf 14, which protrudes inwardly, in the specific example now being described, one sixteenth of an inch from Wall 8, extends along and slightly beneath the edge 18 of lateral wall 8 and is provided at the same height as the bed of the hopper 10 so as to provide support for the cards. A pressure plate 20, which has a generally arcuat-e shape so as to maintain the desired pressure upon the lateral edges of the cards, is provided to maintain the bottommost card in the stack in alignment with the aperture dr opening 22 (seeFIGURE 1B), defined by the lateral edge 18 of wall 8 and the shelf 14. Two plastic pieces 24, each provided with a generally arcuate shaped port or orifice 26, are fastened to housing 25 and positioned to enclose the vacuum ramp 12.

An elliptical aperture 23, through which the actuating arm 31 and roller 3% of a pressure-actuated micro-switch 33 protrudes, is provided in a bed 10 so as to remove the excitation to the drive motor 32, if there are no cards in the feed-hopper. Motor 32, which is electrically connected in series with master switch 11 and source 13, is provided to drive the vacuum blower 34 responsive to the vacuum ramp 12, the buckling knife assembly 36, the transport initiator mechanism 38, the transport rollers, 40 and 42, the readhead rollers 44 and 46, the discharge rollers 43 and 5t, and the components of the read out.

assembly 52.

The initial action in feeding a card is to separate the bottom card from the stack in the hopper, and this is accomplished by the buckling knife mechanism 36, as shown in FIGURE 4. The buckling knife 54, which is fabricated from hard steel and is thinner than an individual card, is fastened to a sliding table 56 by screw means 58 and further, is designed to oscillate through aperture 22 in order to engage the bottommost card in the stack. The functioning of the buckling mechanism is as follows: Cam 60 is secured upon shaft 62, which is driven by drive motor 32, and cam 60 engages a cam follower 64. Cam follower 64 is mounted on a spring biased bell crank assembly 70 which is fastened to a slotted plate '71, plate 71 being rigidly secured to pivot point 67. Pinion 63, to which an operator lever 72 is attached, is rotably mounted on pivot point 67. The spring biased operator lever 72 is secured to plate 71 by means of a pivoted latch 120, so as to impart a reciprocating motion to the rack 66 through pinion 68, driving the sliding table 56 and buckling knife 54. The configuration of the cam 60 is such that the buckling knife 54 is made to oscillate through aperture 22 for each revolution of the shaft 62'.

As the knife 54 protrudes through the aperture 22 it engages a first lateral edge of the bottommost card in the stack, and inasmuch as the buckling knife 54 has a thickness less than the thickness of a card it therefore operates to engage the bottom card only. The buckling knife 54 thereafter continues to move forward causing the bottom most card to bend smoothly downward in a generally arcuate shape over the vacuum ramp, since it is impossible for the card to move backward in the hopper. As card proceeds to bend downward it then closes the orifices 26, which define the air inlet to the vacuum system, causing a pressure differential to exist between the evacuated area between the card and the vacuum ramp 12 and the top surface area of the card, thereby causing the card to be drawn onto the vacuum ramp 12.

The reciprocating action of the knife 54 and the buckling of the card 3 is shown clearly in FIGURE 4. The solid lines represent the rear-most position of the buckling mechanism and the phantom lines represent the forward-most position. Cam follower 64, due to the motion imparted by the movement of cam 60, causes bell crank 70 to move the plate 71 to position 71. Thus, the sliding table 56, is moved to position 56 when pinion 68 moves to position 68 causing the blade 54 to move to 54'. As the blade moves from the position 54 to 54', it engages a first lateral edge of the lower most one of cards 3, and as it proceeds to move to position 54 the selected one of cards 3 is moved from the horizontal position 3 toward the position 3', which closes oif the inlet orifices 26. Once the card 3 is fully inserted, within the definition of orifices 26, a pressure differential is created, causing the card 3 to be successively moved from the position 3' to the positions 3 and 3' opening the normally closed misfeed switch 98. The use of the vacuum system to provide positive card separation is one of the major factors contributing to the ability of the feeder to handle damaged cards.

A second cam 74 is mounted upon shaft 62", as shown in FIGURES 1 and 5, which is also driven by motor 32, and its operation is synchronized with cam 60, so that immediately following the moment that the card is drawn onto the vacuum ramp 12, the transport initiator mechanism 38 is activated. Cam follower 76 is pivoted to operator lever 78 which coacts with latch 80 to drive the spring biased transport initiator knives 82 connected to the latch 80. The second cam 74 is so designed that for each revolution of shaft 62" the transport initiator knives 82 engage the second lateral edge of the bottom card and drive it forward into the transport rollers 40 and 42. It should now be understood that the transport initiator knives 82 are so designed that they engage only the bottommost card in the stack.

As previously stated, when the transport initiator knives 82 advance the card to be read approximately three eighths of an inch, the transport rollers and 42 grip the card firmly and further advance it across a smooth platen 84 to which the card is held by a light spring 86, and into the first pair of precision rollers 44- and 46, which guide the card under a read head assembly 88. The read head assembly consists of a bank of twelve photosensitive cells 90, arranged above the platen 84 on which the card slides. Light is directed through the platen and through twelve photocell masks (not shown). If a hole is being sensed, the light shines directly onto the photocell in line with that hole. A photocell amplifier and gate arrangement (not shown) permits the voltage level sensing a hole to be gated to the output in synchronism With the column count pulse described hereinafter. Attached to the shaft 91, which drives the read head rollers 44, 46 and discharge rollers 48 and 50 by means of a frictional drive wheel 92, which is preferably a disk 94 with holes drilled around the periphery thereof. There is also included an individual hole provided for each column that may exist in the card to be read, and a single hole provided as a reset signal to condition the system to read the car-d following the one being read. The disk 94- and the card 3 always travel at multiples of the same speed, inasmuch as they are driven by common shaft 91 and are synchronized in this manner. It is further pointed out that the transport initiator mechanism 38 and the buckling knife mechanism 36 are synchronized to disk by means of the common drive motor 32. The synchronization is such that each hole in the column count disk 94 passes between a light source and a photodiode at exactly the time during which column position on the card is centered under the read heads. The output of the column count photodiodes (not shown) is a pulse which provides an indication to the output that a particular column is being read, and which also gates the read head amplifier output (not shown). After the card has been processed through the read out system it is discharged through discharge rollers 48 and 50 into the discharge stacker 96.

As it was stated previously, there are two basic malfunctions which might tend to destroy or further damage the cards. Reliable failure detection and correction systems are built into the present card feeder to prevent jamming and to assist the machine in handling cards without destroying them. The first type of malfunction occurs when a card, for any of a multitude of reasons, is not drawn onto the vacuum ramp. A safety mechanism is essential to prevent the transport initiator mechanism 38 from being activated and crushing the card against the first lateral wall 8 of the feed hopper.

A mis-feed switch 98, which is normally closed and connected to the potential source 13, is so situated in an aperture 16 of the vacuum ramp 12 that should a card not be drawn onto the ramp 12 an error signal will deactivate the transport initiator knives 82.

An interrogation switch 100, as shown in FIGURES 3, 4 and 5, which is operated by cam 102 mounted on shaft 62 is connected in series with the mis-feed switch 98 and a solenoid 104. Subsequent to the action of the buckling knife assembly 36, and prior to the initiation of the transport initiator mechanism 38, cam 102 closes the normally open interrogation switch 100. If a card is not present on the vacuum ramp 12 during the time interval interrogation switch 100 is closed, the mis-feed switch remains closed and current is delivered from the source 13 to solenoid 104. The armature 106 of solenoid 104 engages the rear beveled edge of latch 80, which is pivoted to the feed lever arms 81 by pin 83 about which latch can rotate, moving it to position 80' and releasing the transport initiator knives 82 and latch 80 from the operator lever 78. The operator lever 78 will continue to oscillate, to position 78, however, the card will not be further damaged, since the spring biased initiator knives 82 are disengaged from the operator lever 78 and are unable to move forwardly to engage the second lateral edge of the card.

The second instance in which the machine is subject to being jammed is when two cards are simultaneously separated from the bottom of the stack, due to a static charge existing between the two cards, etc. The first card will be drawn onto the ramp and processed but the second card remains floating above the vacuum ramp 12. This condition is a potential source of jamming and a safety mechanism is required to suspend the action of the buckling knife assembly 36 for one cycle so as to process this fioating card.

A photo-conductive cell 108 is placed in a groove, as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, machined into shelf 14, and a light source 110, which provides a pencil beam of light, is mounted under the vacuum ramp 12 in alignment with an aperture 16 so as to concentrate the beam of light upon the photocell. A second normally open interrogation switch 112, which is operated by cam 114 mounted on shaft 62, is connected to the source of potential 13 and in series with solenoid 116 which is connected in parallel with the photoconductive cell 108.

Subsequent to the activation of the transport initiator mechanism 38 and prior to initiating the action of the buckling knife mechanism, the cam 114 closes the interrogation switch 112. During this time interval when the interrogation switch is closed, the second lateral edge of the card being processed passes the beam of light and the photoconductive cell his senses for the presence of a floating card. If no card is present during this interval, the beam of light will impinge upon the photoconductive ell resulting in the system exhibiting a very low impedance in parallel with solenoid 116, and preventing the solenoid 116 from being energized during the interval switch 112 is ciosed. However, if there is a card floating the beam of light will be interrupted by the floating card and no light will impinge upon the photoconductive cell. Therefore, during the interrogation period, the time during which interrogation switch 112 is closed, the system exhibits a very high impedance which is in parallel with solenoid 116, allowing solenoid 116 to become energized.

Armature 113 of solenoid 116 engages latch 12%, thereby moving it out of operative engagement with plate 71 and operatively disengaging the pinion 63 and the rack 66 system from the cam operated drive means for a complete cycle. Therefore, the presence of a floating card will suspended the action of the buckling knife 54 for one complete cycle, allowing the transport initiator knives 82 to forward the floating card into the transport rollers 40 and 42 and to clear the machine for normal operation.

From the foregoing detailed description, it has been clearly shown that the objectives of the invention have been achieved. The machine will process slightly mutilated and bent cards readily and will prevent further damage from occurring to the cards. It is further obvious that the inventive principles involved are capable of assuming other forms without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A card feeder apparatus comprising,

container means for retaining a supply of record cards, said means including first and second planar portions and an inclined vacuum ramp interposed intermediate said first and second planar portions;

a first picking knife cooperating with said first planar portion operable to initially engage a lateral edge of one of said record cards;

vacuum means arranged to coact with said inclined vacuum ramp for transpcsing said lateral edge of said one of said record cards onto said vacuum ramp;

a second picking knife positioned adjacent said second planar portion of said container operable to engage a further lateral edge of one of said record cards to thereby transport said one of said record cards from said container; and

further means for engaging said one of said record cards for transporting said selected one of said records through said card feeder system.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said vacuum ramp is inclined downwardly at an angle of 22 degrees from the horizontal.

3. A card feeder for processing slightly mutilated record cards comprising,

a record card hopper arranged to prepare a group of record cards for processing including a first planar portion, a vacuiun ramp, and at least a pair of armate shaped orifices operable as air inlet parts, wherein said orifices are positioned intermediate said first planar portion and said vacuum ramp, and a second planar portion maintained in alignment with said first planar portion for supporting said group of record cards;

first knife means positioned on said first planar portion having a thickness less than that of any of said record cards in said group and being operable to initially engage a first lateral edge of the bottommost card of said group of record cards, thereby causing said selected card to bend downwardly;

vacuum means cooperating with said vacuum ramp for transposing said selected bent record card from said first portion to said second portion as said record card is interposed between said vacuum ramp and said orifices;

second knife means positioned adjacent said second planar portion for engaging a further lateral edge of said selected record card and removing said selected record card from said second portion;

roller means for transporting said selected record card after it has been picked by said second knife means; and

first safety means coacting with said vacuum ramp operable to sense the absence of any record card upon said ramp during a predetermined time interval and responsive to said absence to render said second knife means inoperative.

Card feeder according to claim 3 wherein the first safety means is comprised of a potential source, a first normally closed switch, a first normally open switch and a first solenoid means, means coupling said first normally open switch, said first solenoid, said first normally closed switch and said potential source electrically in series, said first normally closed switch operable by the presence of a card on said ramp and said first normally open switch operable during said predetermined time interval, whereby the solenoid is energized so as to disengage the second knife means in the absence of said card on said ramp during said predetermined time interval.

5. Card feeder according to claim 4 wherein a second safety means coacting with the first knife means is provided to suspend the operation of the first knife means for one cycle.

6. Card feeder according to claim 5 wherein the second safety means is comprised of a light source, a photoconductive cell, a second solenoid and a second normally open switch, and said potential source means coupling said second normally opened switch in series with the solenoid and said potential source and said photoconductive cell in parallel with said solenoid, said photocondnctive cell having a low impedance in the absence of a card and a high impedance in the presence of a card whereby the presence of an additional card during normal operation energizes the solenoid to suspend operation of the first knife means for a cycle.

7. A card feeder comprising,

a stack of record cards;

a feed hopper for retaining said stack of record cards including at least a deck plate, a shelf, and an inclined plane interposed intermediate said deck plate and said shelf, said deck plate and said shelf being maintained in planar alignment;

first mechanical means positioned on said shelf and selectively operable to engage a first lateral edge of each of said cards in said stack successively during a first time interval to remove said first edge portion from said shelf, the opposite lateral edge portion of said card being retained in its normal position during said first time interval;

vacuum means associated with said inclined plane and operable to remove said selected card from said stack and attach said first lateral edge portion of said selected card to said inclined plane; and

second mechanical means selectively operable for engaging the opposite lateral edge during a second time interval to remove said opposite edge from said deckplate thereby separating said selected card from said stack.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein each of said second time intervals is intermediate of a pair of said first time intervals.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said second mechanical means further includes means responsive to the absence of a card on said vacuum ramp at the end of any of said first time intervals for inhibiting during the next of said second intervals the engagement of said second lateral edge of any of said cards.

It). A card feeder comprising,

a stack of record cards;

a feed hopper for retaining said stack of record cards including at least a deckplate, a shelf, and an inclined plane interposed intermediate said deckplate and said shelf, said deckplate and said shelf being maintained in planar alignment;

7 first mechanical means positioned on said shelf and selectively operable to engage a first lateral edge of each of said cards in said stack successively during a first time interval to remove said first edge portion from said shelf, the opposite lateral edge portion of said card being retained in its normal position during said first time interval;

vacuum means associated with said inclined plane and operable to remove said selected card from said stack and attach said first lateral edge portion of said selected card to said inclined plane;

second mechanical means selectively operable for engaging the opposite lateral edge during a second time interval to remove said opposite edge from said deckplate thereby separating said selected card from said stack; and

said first mechanical means further including means responsive to the presence of one of said record cards on said inclined plane during the initiation of any of said first time intervals for inhibiting during the remaining portion of said first time interval the engagement of said first lateral edge of the next one of said record cards.

11. A card feeder comprising,

a container for supporting a stack of documents in a rest position including first and second planar sections vertically aligned to provide support for said documents, and a third vertically inclined portion interposed between said first and second planar section to receive said documents and position them in a transport position;

air inlet means positioned below said first and second planar sections and above said third inclined portion to subject the third portion to atmospheric pressure;

vacuum means associated with said third vertically inclined portion of said container for creating a differential pressure;

buckling means aligned with said first planar section for initially engaging in a first cyclic time interval a first lateral edge of the lower most document in said stack to position the portion of said document adjacent to said first planar section between said air inlet means and said third vertically inclined portion of said container for creating a pressure differential on said document, whereby said document is moved into engagement with said third portion of said container; and

transport means for engaging during a second cyclic time interval the second lateral edge of said lower most document in said stack to remove said document from engagement with said second planar portion and project it to said card reading system.

12. A card feeder according to claim 11 wherein the air inlet means comprises a pair of arcuate shaped inlet ports.

13. A card feeder according to claim 11 wherein means is provided in conjunction with said third vertically inclined portion to suspend the operation of said second knife means if a card is not positioned on said third portion during the first time interval.

14. A card feeder according to claim 11 wherein means are provided in conjunction with said first knife means to suspend the cyclic operation of said first knife means during said first time interval if more than one card is separated from the stock during the previous first time interval' 15. The method of successively separating individual documents from a stack of documents normally positioned on two vertically aligned noncontiguous planar portions of a card feeder comprising the steps of,

initially buckling and removing said card from said first planar portion of said container in a first cyclic time interval;

drawing said separated portion of said card downward from said stack to position it in a transport position; and

engaging and removing said portion of said card normally positioned on said second planar portion in a second cyclic time interval to transport said card from said stack of cards.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,742,285 4/56 De Back 27l-29 2,817,518 12/57 Anness 27l23 ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner.

RAPHAEL M. LUPG, Examiner. 

15. THE METHOD OF SUCCESSIVELY SEPARATING INDIVIDUAL DOCUMENTS FROM A STACK OF DOCUMENTS NORMALLY POSITIONED ON TWO VERTICALLY ALGINED NONCONTIGUOUS PLANAR PORTIONS OF A CARD FEEDER COMPRISING THE STEPS OF, INITIALLY BUCKLING AND REMOVING SAID CARD FROM SASID FIRST PLANAR PORTION OF SAID CONTAINER IN A FIRST CYCLIC TIME INTERVAL; DRAWING SAID SEPARATED POTION OF SAID CARD DOWNWARD FROM SAID STACK TO POSITION IT IN A TRANSPORT POSITION; AND ENGAGING AND REMOVING SAID PORTION OF SAID CARD NORMALLY POSITIONED ON SAID SECOND PLANAR PORTION IN A SECOND CYCLIC TIME INTERVAL TO TRANSPORT SAID CARD FROM SAID STACK OF CARDS. 